Nationally-renown motivational speaker makes appearance

Students may have seen him perform on the Oprah show, Ellen, America’s Got Talent, YouTube and most recently, Eastwood High School.

Judson Laipply is a motivational speaker by trade, and a “YouTube” phenomenon by chance, and Eastwood high school and middle school students were treated with a performance as a part of Red Ribbon Week.

Laipply grew up in Bucyrus, Ohio, and received his bachelor’s degree from Bluffton University. Next, he graduated with a master’s degree from Bowling Green State University. Since then, he has been traveling the country and speaking to students about the choices they make.

During his presentation to grades 6-12, Laipply spoke about how laughter, confidence, and the power of choice affect a person’s life.

Children laugh more than 300 times a day where as an adult, that number drops drastically to only seven to 14 times a day.

Motivational speaker Judson Laipply talks to students about making good choices during Red Ribbon Week. (Eagle’s Eye photo)

He spoke of how laughter has been proven to rejuvenate neurological pathways and helps a person retain information easier. Laughter is important; it simply makes a person feel better.

Laipply said that confidence is key. He stated that a person with confidence is more appealing than a person who possesses no confidence at all. Confidence is knowing that you have choices, and that you have the power to make those choices in your life.

According to Laipply, life is purely a progression of choices. One choice leads to another, which then leads to another, and so on. People make choices every day, from the food they eat, to the clothes that they put on in the morning. People are constantly making choices and these choices will govern how they live their lives, he told students.

Laipply said that when they make choices ahead of time, such as their stance on drinking and smoking, they are more likely to live by these choices. He wants kids to understand that by making decisions before they are faced with the situation, they are more likely to stand their ground and stick by their choice.

In his life, Laipply must have made some right choices because he said that so far, the highlight of his career has been a meeting that took place on the set of Saturday Night Live with NBC executives. He stated that SNL has always been one of his favorite shows and that being on the set was a dream come true.

One message that he really hammered home was that life is change. It always has been, and always will be.

One example he used was that 16 years ago, the internet was just being made available to households. Now, the internet is used every day. Our world is changing every day, and the inability to accept these changes is what leads people to making the wrong decisions.

Laipply says that “life is change — embrace it!”

This is what led to his “Evolution of Dance” routine. He wanted to show people through dance how much the world has changed.

Two years in the making, Laipply’s “Evolution of Dance” routine is constantly evolving.

He stated that just like life, music is continually changing. He will add a few songs onto his routine, along with the iconic dances that go with them, whenever he feels the need.

One final thought that Laipply left with the crowd was “Life isn’t always the party we’d hoped for, but while we’re here, we might as well dance.”

Reprinted with permission by advisor Carol Wolf from The Eagle’s Eye, an Eastwood High School student publication.